Heated railway platforms to end ice danger for commuters

HEATED railway station platforms to help stop commuters slipping are to be funded by the Government, the Transport Secretary has announced.

Grant Shapps said just over £394,000 had been awarded to Sheffield Hallam University academics to develop electric-heated concrete slabs that would melt ice and light up to provide passengers with safety markings.

The platform slabs will operate on a low voltage of around 24 watts and be automatically turned on when the temperature dips below 00C to help de-ice the surface, according to proposals seen by The Daily Telegraph.

Nineteen people have died and more than 7,000 have been injured in accidents at the edge of railway platforms over the past five years, figures from the Rail Safety and Standards Board show.

The developers said the slabs would also be hooked into real-time passenger data and eventually be able to illuminate green, amber or red to tell people how crowded the carriage they are about to board will be.

The Sheffield Hallam team hope to have the first test slabs installed in a UK station by early next year.

The cash injection is part of a round of £9.4million in grants awarded by the Department of Transport to 25 different firms for projects leading to technological improvements on the rail network.

Other ideas include lightweight 5G masts installed alongside tracks to improve passenger Wi-fi, freight trains that run on hydrogen and an app which will allow users to switch seat bookings based on how crowded carriages are.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said: “I am delighted to announce the winners of this year’s First of a Kind competition, which will support better, more environmentally friendly journeys. From clever technology on platforms to prevent icy surfaces, new ‘seat-switching’ apps and improved 5G Wi-fi connections, harnessing innovation will be crucial to modernising the network and making our railways greener and cleaner, as we build out of Covid-19 and look to the future.”